Flames licked at the nearby trees while the few houses Jisung could see were already fully on fire. They were already crumbling and collapsing into each other while the little inferno made it's way to the forest to destroy every last bit of life that was in it.
Jisung could only watch the uncontrollable flames, breath in the disgusting smoke, feel the incredible heat of the flames on his skin and hear the agonizing screams of people, who were trapped in the flames, burning to death while he couldn't move an inch. His feet seemed to be glued to the ground and it didn't matter how hard he tried to run away he was stuck in place.
Once again the warlock tried to use his magic to free himself but nothing was working. Casting a spell was also no option because he couldn't even cry out for help if he wanted to, he had tried it already.
He was left standing in the middle of what was once a little field with flowers but now it stood in flames. Slowly the fire came closer and closer to Jisung like it was enjoying his suffering and seeing the tears that ran down his cheeks, which disappear with a hiss when they fell down onto the hot ground.
The warlock tried pulling his legs up again and failed once more. He frantically looked around and tried calling out for help once more but he stopped when he saw a familiar pair of orange cat ears through the chaos that was surrounding him.
His heart was hammering against his chest when he noticed that the owner of those cat ears was buried under a fallen but still burning tree. They didn't move an inch, so even though Jisung had no voice, was stuck in place and no other option than to watch, he tried to call out to the person.
"Felix!" he screamed the cat hybrid's name. With that everything seemed to crash and break down while the warlock's vision became black.
Jisung jolted up from his laying position on his bed. His breathing was fast and heavy like he just ran a marathon, his cloths were sticking to his body because of the cold sweat he was bathed in, his vision was blurry from the tears that were streaming down his face and it took his mind way too long to realize that Changbin was sitting directly in front of him.
"H-hyung", the warlock stuttered out and Changbin immediately hugged the younger because his tone alone sounded so vulnerable and scared it would have let anyone's protective instinct kick in instantly. Jisung let himself slump against the vampire prince's warm embrace and tried to calm down from his nightmare. Was it even a nightmare?
"You scared me, Jisung", Changbin mumbled into the warlock's blue hair. "What kind of dream makes you cry out for help and then scream for Felix?", the vampire continued while rubbing the warlock's back comfortingly but then he stopped when a rather scary thought crossed his mind. "Was it a clear up part from your vision?", the vampire prince asked with a badly hidden fear in his voice.
Jisung didn't know how but Changbin became an expert for visions overnight, which could come in handy but it was a little frustrating since the blue-haired warlock had to read a lot of books to figure out at least something about his visions but he had to admit the vampire prince's question was a good one.
"To the gods I hope not. I was in the middle of a fire, watching everything burn to the ground while being able to do nothing and then I saw a pair of orange cat ears, which looked exactly like Felix's and ...", a light sob cut Jisung's explanation off, which caused Changbin to continued his soothing rubbing of the other's back.
Jisung took a deep breath before he continued to talk. "I don't know if that was a nightmare or a vision because myself was in it. I saw my legs, arms, everything but I couldn't move or talk. Normally my visions clear up randomly while I'm awake. I can see other people and surroundings but never myself", the warlock then continued.
Changbin hummed as an answer to that and just continue to hold the warlock until he had fully calmed down. It took a little bit of time for Jisung to recover from this nightmarish vision-whatever and leave the vampire prince's safe and warm hug.
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"What should we do? It was planned that we would leave for Transylvania later today", the warlock asked and whipped away the last bits of his tears. Changbin seemed a little lost in thought. "I would call Minhyuk-hyung and ask him about this but I know from Changkyun-hyung that he is busy because of the fall of the barrier", the vampire prince thought out loud.
Jisung sighed and brought his knees up to hug them. "So we can just hope it was a stupid nightmare", he mumbled. Changbin looked at the warlock, who still seemed so fragile and scared it made his heart break a little.
"We can call Felix and Minho to make sure they are fine and tell them about your dream, maybe they can put it to use", the vampire suggested and Jisung nodded his head weakly.
"Everything is going to be fine, Jisung", Changbin said and patted the warlock's head while he grabbed Jisung's phone from the warlock's nightstand. He turned the display on and looked at the time. It was 4:43 in the morning.
"They both will probably be asleep", the vampire prince said and showed Jisung the time. "Can we still try to call them?", the warlock asked in a small voice, looking at the vampire with his big sky blue eyes. Changbin became weak almost instantly.
"Alright but if they come back to Yellow Wood to kill me for waking them up that's on you", Changbin tried to joke to cheer the younger up. The warlock showed a little smile but nothing more, so the vampire just unlocked the phone.
Changbin knew Jisung's password ever since he moved into the castle. The vampire searched in the contacts for Minho's number and called the older since he was more likely to pick up if Jisung was the one calling him. He put the phone on speaker but immediately there was this robotic female voice saying "Sorry this phone number is currently out of reach. Please try again later".
Changbin could literally see Jisung stiffen and he would lie when he said that he wasn't worried now. Yesterday there wasn't a problem with reaching out to the two cat hybrids. Jisung even had a pretty long phone call with Minho and as far as the two of them knew they didn't change their position, which meant either something was wrong with the connection in general or Jisung's nightmare was indeed a cleared up part of the vision he had three days ago.
"I will try to call Felix", Changbin said and dialed the ginger's phone number in hopes of him picking up. Again, you could only hear the robotic female voice say: "Sorry this phone number is out of reach. Please try again later"
There was a heavy silence that filled the room after Changbin ended the call. Thousands of thoughts were running through the heads of the teenagers and many of them weren't good.
"This can't be a good sign", the vampire broke the silence with a mumble he hadn't planned on letting out but it was like a kickstarter for Jisung.
The warlock immediately stood up like a lighting, walking over to his closet and rummaging through it in a hurry seemingly in search of something important.
"Jisung, what-", Changbin started but was cut off by the younger. "Minho's dark blue hoodie. I kind of stole it from him on accident", the warlock already answer the vampire's question. Jisung pulled out the dark blue hoodie not long after.
"I know where the sky clan territory is, since I asked Minho about it yesterday. Maybe my dream hasn't come true yet and we can still save them and their parents' clan from the fire", the warlock continued with a determination in his voice that even covered how scared he actually was.
Changbin was surprised to see his friend like that and who was he to not help him? "Alright, so we will go there but what do you need Minho's hoodie for?", the vampire asked standing up from the bed as well.
"I learned a searching spell from Seungmin some time ago and for that I need an item that belongs to the person I am searching for. Hopefully I won't need to use it though", the warlock answered and picked out a yellow hoodie and a simple jean to wear before closing is wardrobe again.
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"Sounds like a plan. Meet me downstairs in five minutes", the vampire said and dashed out of the room with his supernatural speed. Jisung looked after him for a brief second before he began changing into the cloths he picked out.
After this he picked up Minho's hoodie again, put his phone into the back pocket of his jean and left his room, going downstairs just like Changbin wanted.
The older male already stood at the end of the stairs clothed completely in black with two helmets in hand. "Get your coat. We will use my motorcycle", he said and Jisung nodded, quickly grabbing his coat from the hangers in the entrance hall of the castle and then following Changbin to the little garage, where the older's motorcycle waited patiently.
"Did you leave Changkyun-hyung and Jae-hyung a message so they don't turn Yellow Wood upside-down in the search of you?" Jisung asked while putting on his coat and the helmet Changbin gave him.
"Trust me they would also turn Yellow Wood upside-down in the search of you but yes I did. Hopefully they don't kill us when we come back", the vampire answered, putting his helmet on as well and seating himself on his motorcycle.
"At least I can say you made their life stressful before me", the warlock joked when the tide Minho's hoodie around himself under his coat. He made a double knot with the sleeves, so the hoodie would stay in place then he got onto the motorcycle behind Changbin.
"I can't even deny that. Hold on tight or you will fall off but don't forget to give me directions because I have no clue where to go", the vampire instructed and Jisung nodded, putting his arms around Changbin's stomach. The vampire prince started the engine of the motorcycle and then they were speeding down the hill while the sun wasn't even up yet. Both hoping that maybe they would drive to the sky clan territory for nothing.
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"Come on you two. Relax a bit and do something fun", Duri, a female cat hybrid in Minho's age said cheerfully trying to get the Lee brothers to join her on fishing at the river. Both Felix and Minho were skeptical because they didn't see how fishing with your bare hands in freaking winter was fun in anyway. They also questioned why their parents thought it was a wonderful idea to pair them up with Duri. She was nice and everything but you notice pretty fast that she was born and raised the traditional cat hybrid way. That meant she never came into contact with magic and never saw a city close up, so her understanding for the worry and fear Minho and Felix carried around with them since the fall of the barrier was zero.
"Listen Duri we have a different idea of fun and we definitely won't relax. Not with the current situation", Minho tried to explain to her but she just tilted her head to the side and asked "Why" like a toddler and that kind of stupidity was getting on Minho's nerve rather quickly.
"We are sorry, Duri. We just don't want to go fishing right now", Felix tried to excuse himself and Minho.
"Alright, then we will just train some fighting moves, even you city strays should have fun with that", Duri suggested while she rolled her eyes in annoyance.
Maybe the Lee brothers would have agreed to that if the female cat hybrid hadn't called them "city strays". It was a term used to describe cat hybrids who lived in cities and without a clan. It wasn't an offensive word per se but often used in a negative context.
"I rather not. I will be in my room if someone needs me", Minho said a little defensively and speed walked away without saying anything else.
"Never knew that being separated from your mate makes you this grumpy", Duri commented Minho's reaction while looking after him.
"You just used the wrong words", Felix replied and immediately ran after his older brother.
The whole clan was aware of the fact that Minho had found his mate because another female cat hybrid had tried to hit on Minho on the first day of the Lee brothers being here. Minho had brushed the girl off quickly by saying he already had a wonderful mate and this information made its rounds in the clan quicker than a kitsune could teleport.
Felix managed to catch up to his brother rather quickly even though the older was walking very fast.
"Hyung, wait", the ginger said and grabbed his brother's arm to make him slow down. Minho didn't rip his arm away from his younger brother's grip and he slowed down but he said nothing.
The two brothers just stood there alone in the forest, not far away from the few rather big houses, which served as sort of modern camp for the whole clan.
"We shouldn't push Duri away so much. She just tries to be nice and give us something to do. I mean we can't just sit in our room the whole day sulking over the fact that we are far away from our home and friends", Felix reasoned, looking at his older brother. Minho's gaze was focused on the way ahead.
"That's not the reason", Minho answered in a low voice, "Of course I miss our friends but I don't get how Duri and everyone here can be so cheery when he could be hunted down by humans any second. Humans are stupid that's why they live everywhere, even in places where their chances of survival are zero without special help." Minho ripped his arm out of Felix's grip.
"Shouldn't they prepare for the worst case scenario instead of playing around?", Minho asked. Felix knew he had a point even though he wasn't completely right. Preparation was important but not losing hope was essential because without hope nothing would work.
"Yeah, they and we should prepare but that doesn't mean we should all be easily irritated and grumpy", the younger responded, continuing to look at his brother. Minho still looked at the way ahead and crossed his arms over his chest before sighing, letting a puff of white mist come out of his nose.
"I hate this whole situation", he mumbled.
"Not only you, hyung", Felix chuckled humorless. This situation was just terrible. Felix and Minho were stuck with cat hybrids their age while their parents tried their uttermost best to keep everything in order and to keep everyone safe.
"I think a run would be nice now", the ginger suggested after a short silence, feeling the need to just power himself out, so he wouldn't overthink the current situation.
"Only if it's just the two of us. My gut tells me I don't like Duri", the older responded earning a little giggle from his brother. It totally wasn't obvious that Minho disliked Duri, but Felix knew where the older was coming from if he was honest.
"I couldn't tell you disliked her", Felix said sarcastically. Minho looked at him with a blank face and suddenly started running without any warning.
"Not fair!", Felix yelled after him and began to chase his brother. The snow crunched under their boots when they speeded through the forest, dodging trees and low hanging branches.
Felix almost crashed into a tree when Minho made a sharp right turn but he somehow managed to give himself a little boost by pushing himself away from the truck of the tree. The ginger was on his brother's heels now, just a little bit faster and he would have caught up to him but Minho tripped.
Yes, Minho tripped which caused Felix to trip over him which resulted in both of them laying in the snow, laughing.
"Why did you suddenly trip?", Felix laughed at his brother when he had sat up.
"I don't know. It wasn't like I plan it", Minho replied still laughing a little. The older sat up and shook his head to get the snow out of his hair.
If anyone had seen those two they would have shaken their head and continued walking. They looked like children in the bodies of almost adults, who laughed because they simply tripped but they both needed this. They needed this little moment, where they were just children playing chase and ending up in a situation, where they couldn't help but laugh and giggle at their own stupidity.
But the moment didn't last. Both stopped laughing and giggling immediately when their noses picked up the scent of smoke in the cold January air.
"A fire in winter?", Felix asked not only Minho but also himself while standing up and looking around, searching for the smoke. Minho stood up as well and tested the air again. You could definitely smell smoke but where was it coming from?
The question was answered pretty quickly when they both saw a lot of grey smoke in the air and it seemingly wasn't very far away.
"Damn it. One of the clan houses could be on fire", Felix panicked a little and started to run back the way they came from. Minho wanted to follow him but his ears suddenly perked up. They had picked up on a clicking sound which made him look around carefully.
Suddenly he felt a light sting on the side of his neck, which immediately made him claps his hand over the place. He felt something metallic and pulled it out of his neck looking at it. It was a little injector.
Minho's realization came too late. His legs broke away under him when he wanted to start running. His body fell limp onto the cold ground of the forest and the last thing he could hear was a female voice that said: "Good night, kitty."
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Jisung gasped for air when he came back to reality after a part of his vision decided to clear up randomly. The part had shown that Minho would be captured by a female human. Like hell Jisung would let that happen!
"Changbin drive faster", he yelled over the wind that was brushing past the motorcycle with a little bit of panic in his voice.
"Why all of the sudden? We have been driving for hours already we will probably be there in some minutes", the vampire prince yelled back.
"Minho will be in trouble and not because of the fire but because of humans!", the warlock replied, so that Changbin could hear him.
Without further questions, the vampire speed up even more, racing down the street that lead deep into a forest.
"By all the gods let Minho and Felix be safe", Jisung thought to himself.